Shloka 7

Chapter 59: Baladeva’s Censure, Keśava’s Restraint, and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Moral Accounting

Devanagari script

येअस्मान्‌ पुरोपनृत्यन्त मूढा गौरिति गौरिति

Transliteration

ye asmān puropanṛtyanta mūḍhā gaur iti gaur iti

Translation

三阇耶说：“那些愚人，曾在我们面前起舞，一遍又一遍地喊着：‘牛！牛！’”

Word by Word

• ये: who (those who)
• ये: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• अस्मान्: us
• अस्मान्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: —, Accusative, Plural

• पुरः: in front, before
• पुरः: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पुरस्
• Form: true

• उपनृत्यन्ति: they dance near/around (they perform/dance up to)
• उपनृत्यन्ति: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: उप-नृत्
• Form: Present, Parasmaipada, Third, Plural

• मूढाः: deluded, foolish
• मूढाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मूढ
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• गौः: cow
• Type: Noun
• Root: गो
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• इति: thus, saying
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति
• Form: true

• गौः: cow
• Type: Noun
• Root: गो
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• इति: thus, saying
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति
• Form: true

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how derisive speech and humiliating mockery—especially in moments of power—reflect delusion (mūḍhatā) and can become morally charged causes of later hostility and suffering within the dharmic narrative of the war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports a taunting scene: certain people had earlier performed and jeered in front of the speaker’s side, repeatedly shouting “cow, cow,” a refrain used as ridicule; the line recalls past insults amid the escalating violence of the Shalya Parva.